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Review Datsun redi-GO: my travel companion for the road-trip

The first thing I did when I reached my hotel late in the night in a Mumbai, was to go to the parking lot and check out the car which was going to be my travel mate on the road trip the following day #Datsunredi-GO. I love driving and I love doing road-trips, and when layered with an opportunity to test-drive a car I had never driven before, I knew the day would go really well.

Datsun redi-GO

I love the front grill...

Datsun redi-GO

I started at the break of dawn from Mumbai to my home, Pune, but with numerous detours, pit-stops and photo-ops. There was absolutely no hurry, and I wanted to drive the car in different road conditions, especially pot-holes, so decided to drive through the old highway via Thane. Not only was the journey very scenic, I could stop anywhere I wanted (well, almost) for chai, food or simply to take pictures. The last part of journey was on the expressway, simply because I didn't want to miss out on that experience as well.

Here's a video from the beginning of my journey:

For a journey which only takes about three hours, I took five, but guess what, it was absolutely worth it. In fact, I had planned to take the car further ahead to Lavasa also, but i think that's a mini-road-trip experience for another time :)

So how was my first hand experience test-driving the redi-GO?

The one thing that struck me the most about redi-GO was how natural my transition was from my previous small car. It just seemed like a perfect upgrade, right from the time I sat in the driver's seat - there was more headroom, legroom and shoulder room. The car felt familiar, and very comfortable.

However, there are some key features which stood out for me and I would like to highlight them here.

High ground clearance

With a class-leading ground clearance of 185mm, redi-GO feels rather good on city-roads. Of course I didn't intentionally drive into potholes, but overall ride was smooth.

Cabin space

This is another feature which stood out for me - the 222 litre boot space! This is the best in it's class and many travellers, like me, would appreciate more space on trips.

Aesthetics

Most manufacturers don't pay enough attention to the aesthetics for entry level cars, but Datsun stands out here. The headlamp and taillamp are both head-turners. The car is compact, but doesn't ever feel small.

I also liked the fun and confident stance of this entry level hatchback. It surely looks like a car which will appeal to the youth of the country (India is young, but will be the youngest country in the world by 2022).

I also quite liked the DRLs (Daytime running lamps) located on the lower part of the front bumper.

Kudos to the design team which worked on this :)

Mileage

Of course this isn't something I could calculate within a day, but the mileage numbers are impressive as well at 22.7 km/ litre.

And finally, if you are looking for an even sportier version of this car, you are in luck. You can buy redi-GO Sport with subtle highlights which take design and style to a completely different level. Read more: Datsun redi-GO Sport

My live update after the trip!

I love sharing my first hand experiences right at the end of a trip and answer questions from the readers while doing so, and this trip was different. However, if you missed out on catching me live that day, you can still see the video here. Enjoy :)

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Disclaimer: I was test driving the redo-GO provided by Datsun India for this road-trip. However, all views expressed above are my own and based on my personal experience of driving the car.

Comments

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The Datsun redi-go is such a cute car! So interesting that the Datsun brand is still used globally. For the past 20 years or so, in the US it converted to Nissan. The car seems to roomy. Enjoy your trip.

It's not a car I'm familiar with. I have to admit for our self-drives I'm more looking at size, miles to the gallon, features for the driver, how much luggage, what kind of legroom. I don't think about brand let alone model! Your Datsun redigo looks great though!

What a fun little vehicle to utilize to explore India. Having done a lot of road trips recently (5 so far in the past 6 months!) I really like the smaller cars, especially for traffic and gas mileage. And that little extra ground clearance you had on the Datsun, especially in a small car, certainly helps!

I am glad that it has good clearance as roads in India are definitely challenging. I don't think I would ever dare drive there but this looks like a neat car to drive in if I ever plucked up enough courage to do so

I personally love small cars, especially hatchbacks! This Datsun looks perfect for a road trip as it is so good on gas. I have a Toyota hatchback and I've saved so much money on road trips because of its small size. I'd love to test drive a Datsun one day to compare how it feels on the road!

We also prefer road trips as our favorite method of travel, though I've never driven a Datsun - love though that it has a high clearance, I usually hear the bottom scraping when I go over pot holes or unpaved roads and always cringe!! Will definitely look into a Datsun for our next trip :)

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I am an India based Designer, Blogger, Photographer and Travel writer. I enjoy travelling as much as sharing my stories and photographs from around the world with people to inspire them to make even more wonderful journeys themselves :)

I call myself 'The Wanderer' as I often love to just wander about in the places I visit - to meet new people, see new places and to just soak in new experiences. Often its the unexpectedness of the moment which makes it so memorable...